YMCA will stay in Holly Hill if city OKs funding

Thursday

Dec 13, 2012 at 10:28 AMDec 13, 2012 at 1:59 PM

CHRIS GRAHAMSTAFF WRITER

HOLLY HILL — The 1978 disco song makes it clear: It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A. Holly Hill leaders and residents may be singing that tune soon. The board of directors for the Volusia-Flagler Family YMCA voted Wednesday to accept the city's proposal to subsidize the Holly Hill facility and keep it from closing, said Teresa Rogers, the nonprofit organization's CEO and president. The Y operates out of a city-owned building at 1046 Daytona Ave. Earlier this week, the City Commission by a 3-2 vote decided to offer $45,000 to prevent the facility from being shuttered on Feb. 22. Earlier, City Manager Jim McCroskey offered the building with no monthly lease, though it is unclear if the free facility will still be a part of the city's offer. Rogers said she had not received an offer from the city on Thursday, but that McCroskey called her and they plan to meet next week. A message left with McCroskey was not returned. The YMCA's leader also said 18 of the board members who have voted so far all chose to accept the city's offer once it is received. The board has 27 members."We will stay at the Y for the next 12 months," pending the city's offer, Rogers said. What happens after that, however, remains unclear. Before deciding to give money to the YMCA, the commission considered creating a parks and recreation department using five members of its custodial staff. The decision on that measure, however, was postponed for 30 days to see if the city's consultant could formalize a plan on what is best for the city's future. Commissioner John Penny said he believes it would have taken longer than February for that to happen. "My whole motivation was to buy time," he said of making the motion to keep the Y in town. "I think this gives us options. This is not a permanent fix." It is thought by some city officials that the old Holly Hill Middle School property could field some recreational services. In 2010, the city dissolved its parks and recreation department, which had a budget of $400,000, in favor of partnering with the Y. Newly-elected Commissioner Penny Currie said the city needs to have workshops to get citizens involved with the process to decide what should happen at the 25-acre middle school property."We need to start having some workshops to better understand what our options are," she said. "We need to get started on this right away." Commissioner Donnie Moore, who has championed the need for recreational services, said the city is using the "YMCA as a crutch." "We refuse to commit to recreation," he said. "The right decision isn't always the easy decision." Moore said the Y in Holly Hill serves a very small group of citizens – about 300 — compared to the rest of the city's 11,000-plus residents. While there isn't any money budgeted for recreation this year, he said the city has yet to explore all of its options. "We either need to decide to support recreation or say the hell with it."